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WearAbility = Wearable Computers and Accessibilty

They say 2014 is the year of wearable computers and devices. While marketed mostly towards the busy professionals and health conscious athletes, there's far more to these devices.

This presentation looks at the intersection of wearable computers and accessibility. How can these sensor filled devices provide alternative displays and gestures? How can they help a blind person see the world, a person with a mobility issue explore, track health and detect traumatic events before they happen?

This presentation was created for the Inclusive Design 24 series of webinars that celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2014.

4.
Obstacle Detection in 2004
obstacle detection device from 2004 http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/wlva/
The prototype WLVA consists of three major components: a head mounted display (HMD), backpack mounted equipment, and software. The HMD incorporates the scanning fiber display and optics mounted in a tube on one side of a spectacle frame, and a video camera with IR light
emitting diodes mounted on the other side. The backpack-mounted equipment consists of a laptop computer, an embedded processor, and hardware to drive the scanning fiber display.

5.
iGlasses have obstacle detection and vibrate when the user gets close to a low hanging branch or other object. http://ambutech.com/iglasses

7.
Acceptance and Ubiquity
Which of these kids is using an assistive technology device? Tablets, phones, and assorted mobile devices are so common that stigma associated with earlier devices has
diminished.
photo: student iPad school by Brad Flickinger https://www.flickr.com/photos/56155476@N08/6660001925/

8.
Complexity in
the right place
“What made the Rio and other devices so brain dead was that they were complicated. They had to do things like make playlists, because they weren’t integrated with the jukebox software on your
computer. So by owning the iTunes software and the iPod device, that allowed us to make the computer and the device work together, and it allowed us to put the complexity in the right place.” -Steve
Jobs
photo: Seele der Musikindustrie by ken fager https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfagerdotcom/4398922649/

9.
Internet of Things
IPV6 allows every object to have its own ip address. Wearable devices can surround and work within your body and be uniquely defined.
lamprey inspired nano-robots are being developed that can migrate through your body for healthcare.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/cyberplasm-micro-robot-modeled-after-sea-lamprey-could-swim-around-inside-you
photo: pacific lamprey by USFWS Pacific https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/7129322663/

11.
Vision
• MIT’s Media Lab has been innovating the vision-based computers for many years.
• Eye-based wearables follow the head and the user’s point of interest.
• Eye tracking allows hands free. Sensors are at head level instead of floor level (cane)
photo: http://cameraculture.media.mit.edu/

12.
Hands Free
Hands free control is what makes wearable accessibility devices mainstream. Handsfree control works for drivers, people carrying objects, provides
alternative gesture support, and helps those with physical disabilities.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/10/22/google-glass-aids-disabled/3006827/
photo: no hands by Jack Zalium https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaiban/6838891054/

13.
The tilt control function is available on gitHub to integrate with other applications.
github.com/kaze0/tiltcontrol http://www.fastcompany.com/3027054/most-innovative-companies/look-ma-no-hands-tilt-control-brings-touchless-
navigation-to-googl
This is just one example of using Glass and other devices to control the user’s environment and computers without their hands.
Watch for more work towards hands-free devices at https://www.facebook.com/googleglassaccessibility

14.
Hearing
• Ear based devices are common, especially after years of bluetooth headphones.
• Ears provide same benefits of eye-based location.
• Biometric information, such as body temp, pulse are available
• hands-free, display-free interactions
• Japanese researchers and ear based computer http://phys.org/news/2014-03-japan-tiny-ear.html

15.
The Dash is a KickStarter funded project to create an ear-based device that provides hands-free/display-free support, biometrics, and audio enhancement.
This is just an example of ear-based exploration. http://www.bragi.com/
Hearing based devices are display independent, a paradigm shift for designers.

16.
Biometrics
Dialog is just one example of using biometric sensors for health monitoring. This watch and patch detect seizures, user feedback, and emergency alerting. http://
www.artefactgroup.com/content/work/dialog/
Biometric tracking has become a key feature of most wearables, watch for Apple’s expected announcement of a health monitoring package.

17.
Clothing
clothing can be embedded with threading that transmits electronic signals. A connected shirt can track movement, bio metrics, and potentially gestures.
This is great for health monitoring. http://www.omsignal.com/

18.
Prosthetics
Prosthetics are no longer static extensions of the body. They contain multiple sensors, processors, and controllers. DARPA has been encouraging
prosthetic and exoskeleton designs. http://science.howstuffworks.com/prosthetic-limb4.htm
the DEKA arm is a good example http://www.dekaresearch.com/deka_arm.shtml
photo: Prosthetic Hand by Vern Hart https://www.flickr.com/photos/vernhart/1501901190/

19.
Motion
Detecting the person’s motion for gesture recognition, detecting their tasks, understanding the difference between a sit up and a push up, hands-free
Lars Asplund, Professor Emeritus in Robotics at MDH, is working on this hand-based device http://phys.org/news/2014-05-virtual-keyboard-reality-
video.html#nRlv

20.
Memory
smart watches could help those with memory loss via geolocation/geofencing, reminders, providing information to rescue
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=109
photo: No, I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are by Neil Moralee https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilmoralee/8268874659/

21.
Short Term
Memory Loss
People with short term memory loss require reminders. The watch is a natural location for reminders. Motion and biometric sensors could also detect
when an activity has been accomplished. This avoids reminding user to do an already completed task and encourages independence.
shown watch: http://www.appsapk.com/calendar-reminder-smart-extras/

22.
Emotion Recognition
Sension is working on facial and gesture recognition with Google Glass http://www.sension.co/case

23.
Text and Object Detection
WearScript from Open Shades uses Mechanical Turk and VizWiz to allow blind users to identify text and objects. http://www.openshades.com/
Text translation has also been integrated by Word Lens. http://questvisual.com/us/

24.
Instant Captioning
Captioning on Glass allows a person with a hearing impairment to see what another person is saying. This Georgia Tech project is available as open
source. http://borg.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/?q=projects/cog
Google also has a patent on speech to text transcription http://goo.gl/p9IEIq

25.
Reading
The finger reader project from MIT uses a finger based device to track the sentence a user is reading and convert to speech. It also guides the person to
move up/down if they go off the line. http://fluid.media.mit.edu/projects/fingerreader
This should be possible with an eye-based device.

26.
The intellect of the wise is
like glass; it admits the
light of heaven and reﬂects
it.
!
-Augustus Hare
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/glass.html#MkmtKupHAEVV7W3f.99
The opportunity exists for us to build devices that express our hidden selves, explore the world with new senses, and combine reactors and reactions.
What could you solve with wearable computing?